December 4, 2006

Call to Barton to Restore Environmental Funding to CAA

Re: Restoration of vaccine and environmental research to the Combating Autism Act

Dear Chairman Barton,

In 2005 Senators Santorum and Dodd requested the diversity of groups that represent the autism community to work together to help draft the language that became the Combating Autism Act. After much toil and deliberation a draft that reflected the consensus of the autism community emerged. This draft had nearly universal support in the autism community.

The consensus bill included statutory language requiring research on the possible association between vaccines and autism, and statutory language requiring research on possible environmental factors in causing autism. For many individuals and organizations within the autism community these were the most important provisions in the bill.

As you know, the final version of S. 843 that was voted on and passed by the Senate did not include the statutory language for vaccine research. We are concerned that the statutory language requiring environmental research may not be included in the final version of the bill that may be voted upon by the House of Representatives.

We urge you to restore the statutory provisions for vaccine and environmental research to,H.R. 2421, the Combating Autism Act, as originally conceived in the consensus bill. Restoring these key elements would assure the support for this legislation by a large section of the autism community who believe that this research will be key to the eventual discovery of the causes of autism, the development of safe and effective treatments, and ultimately finding a cure for autism.